Krishan Lal

Sh. Krishan Lal ji is no more : 20 posts by 14 authors.
News from Anil Thakur ji in another thread:
“There is a very sad news for all of us. One of our experts, Sh. Krishan Lal ji from Nahan, Himachal Pradesh is no more in this world. We have lost a great nature lover and plant explorer. He has many new records for the state of H.P. despite the fact that he was Arts graduate.”

This is really a very-2 sad news to all of us at efloraofindia.
He was such a wonderful person though we never met in person.
He will always help us on Himachal Flora whenever we were stuck up. That is why he was in the list of our Subject Experts
We have lost a sincere soldier for our cause.
We prey for his pious soul.

Its really a very sad news for all of us. Krishan Lal ji was one of most resourceful person and very helpful… Its a big loss for all of us here.  May his soul rest in peace.

Very sad news. Krishan Lal ji helped us with most of the IDs queried / pending from the northern parts of our country. May his soul rest in peace.

Very sad to hear the news. May his soul rest in peace.

Can any one write an obituary or memories with his posts and his presence in the group as an adviser  with apt solutions to many problems.

Thanks, …, I will start a fresh thread in which members can recall their experience & give at least one interesting fact/ story etc. related to him.

The news has come as a rude shock. Dr G. S. Rawat broke this news to me. In his death we have lost a lovely, polite, enthusiastic and knowledgeable person. He accompanied me and Dr. G S Rawat to Shimla only a couple of months back. Compulsive plant lover as he was, he would keep a hawk’s eye on the flora along the roads and would make the vehicle to stop to check identity of the plant he thought was new from the moving vehicle.  
Those who don’t know, he retired as Office Superintendent from the Public Works Department in Himachal Pradesh. He developed love for plants early on and spent a large proportion of his earnings on buying books on plants from all across the globe, a developed a enviable personal library. He also developed a keen interest in photography and spent quite a bit on buying good photographic equipment. After retirement he spent his left over earnings to buy a Mahindra vehicle and woul undertake extensive visits to different areas in Himachal to explore plant wealth.
My salute to his indomitable spirit to never say die and keep learning. May his soul rest in peace. I only wish that somebody should come forward and fulfil his desire to publish his compilations.

Thanks, … Very good deep insights. I was also a bit surprised when he asked a copy of my book “A photo guide to the birds of Kolkata & common birds of India” as I thought he was more in Flora. But it was nice to hear from him & I quickly obliged.

So sad news.

Very sad news. May his soul rest in peace.

My salute to his indomitable spirit to never say die and keep learning. May his soul rest in peace

Extremely sad news. He had become active recently on our group and Facebook groups. We pray for his soul to RIP.

Very sad news. It’s a great loss to the group. May his soul RIP.

Very sad !! we lost our flora friend RIP

Sh. Krishan Lal ji worked in clerical cadre and retired as Office Superintendent in the PWD office. He was always able to find time to follow his passion about plants from the very busy office he was working in. I still cherish the moment when I got first opportunity of going with him to the filed on the trail of Gentiana kurroo in 2010, an elusive medicinal plant assessed as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the Western Himalayas, and when he showed me a big bunch of flowers precariously hanging from a rocky cliff. We both were lying on our bellies to capture a glimpse of this plant lurking about 10 feet below us on the cliff. His childlike exultation at that moment was to be seen to be believed. Simply a great soul!! We’ll deeply miss his uncanny eye for the species, usually hidden from the normal eye, and his polite disagreement with first identifications, even by experts. It is only due to his this ability that he has been able to add many first time records to the flora of Himachal Pradesh.       

Very Sad news

A couple of Days ago Anil Thakur told us in another thread about his passing

I did not have any direct interaction but I have noticed his opinions and diagnosis were to the point and thoughtful.

I have often learned new things from them

Our group will surely miss him and his low key approach.

May his soul be happy in his heaven, and find good new plants.

I remember of a post by Ashwini ji on a Lauraceae member from Himachal Pradesh.  Robi ji identified it to be a Neolitsea and Krishan Lal ji called it N. umbrosa.  Ultimately it was indeed identified as N. pallens.

My association with Kishan Lal ji traces back to 2012 when I was planning to visit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh along with my Korean mentor Dr. Joongku Lee. Since this was my first visit to Himachal, I was not much aware where to visit in Himachal. Therefore, I was looking for some contacts in Himachal. One of my BSI seniors suggested to meet Kishan Lal ji. I called him and he readily agreed to help us. After reaching to his place at Nahan, we recieved a warm welcome by Kishanlal ji and we together planned for a trek to Churdhar Peak. During this period, he managed our food, and accommodation with help of his office colleagues. He also took us to a small room near his office where he was maintaining his small library and a cupboard of dried plant samples. Next day we trekked to Churdhar peak during which he introduced many beautiful and rare plants to us. We were so surprised to see his level of enthusiasm and knowledge about the native plants. After that trek, we were constantly in touch. I asked him to join eFlora and he did it. Initially he was little hesitant, and was sending his photographs to me for posting them to the forum. Somehow I convinced him to send it by himself and he started interacting with the group. He had a wonderful collection of plant photographs which he had recently started posting to Facebook too. He was always keen to discuss about the Himalayan plants and had a plan to publish a pictorial guide to the flora of Himachal. Wish someone will take his work further and make his dreams true!!

He never missed calling on special occasions. This year also I received a call from him for the new year wishes. Never knew that it would be his last call. 
Will miss him always!!

In view of another thread: Sh. Krishan Lal ji is no more, I request members to give small facts etc. about their interaction with him so that these can be compiled.

This is what he wrote in 18.3.12 against my invitation to join efloraofindia:
“Thanks a lots for inviting me for the membership of E- flora of India. It is regretted for delay in reply. I am already a member of your site. I have a keen interest in flora. I am much crazy for the identification of flowers. A expert botanist has identifed my plant as Aster peduncularis, but i was not satisfied the identification and then the photo of the plant was sent to your site through Sh. Ritesh Kumar of Korea, but could not be identified. Now I have identified the species after three years and it is Inula nervosa and an addition to the flora of Himachal Pradesh and paper of it is being publishing. Due to heavy burden of official work I am unable to look all the email and no facilities of net in my office which is situated in an interior place far away my native place at the elevation 1700m.
Yours,                                                                                                   
Krishan Lal 0/0 the Executive Engineer,
HPPWD, Sangrah Division, Dist. Sirmour, HP
173023″
This shows that despite lot of hardships, he never failed in helping in difficult identifications when ever I marked a mail to him. That was his true character. Kudos to him. My salute to the departed soul.  

Few weeks back I replied to his picture confirming the ID as Acmella radicans. The thread is here.
This species, as I suspect, is not reported from Himachal Pradesh and his keen eyes and camera recorded it from Himachal Pradesh. He had earlier reported plants as new record to HP and may have published this species as another. Unfortunately he did not find time.
Despite of no academic background in Taxonomy he was exceptional field taxonomist as also mentioned and recognized by Dr H.B.Naithani (a well known Plant Taxonomist from FRI Dehradun).
My sincere tribute to the departed true taxonomist!

The link in my earlier post was from my mailbox so giving here the copy of conversation:

I think seems to match with images of this species at Acmella